Q: I’ve been reading a lot about the importance of placing medical records online. While I can see some positives about doing this, don’t you feel it’s too risky for someone to hack into our personal information? — Fearful Frannie

A: Dear Frannie: I, too, have been investigating the various offers to store personal medical information online, securely and without charge. Initially, I thought of the proverb, “If it sounds too good to be true, it is.”

But as I expanded my research, I realized the some of the offering sites are, for the most part, valid and successful ones, particularly the most well-known: Google (www.google.com/health), Microsoft (www.healthvault.com), WebMD (www.webmd.com/phr), and Revolution Health to which I belong (www.revolutionhealth.com). The latter two seem to be easier for users and offer more options.

A PHR (personal health record) allows subscribers to keep track of all medical history, our medications, allergies, adverse reactions to drugs, health care provider appointments and so forth. Regardless of whether we move to another city, simply change physicians or visit doctor-referred specialists, repeating the same information (or asking and paying for all those copies) gets old mighty fast.

If we consolidate our records, that endless repetition comes to a screeching halt.

Many health care providers utilize office computers to diagnose illnesses, write prescriptions and so forth. (Thank you, Dr. Illegible!) With the advance of more practical technology in their practices, your physicians should be more amenable to your placing your health records online for your own immediate and direct access to your information.

So to answer your question, nothing is without risk; worse, we become even more fearful whenever news breaks that someone has stolen private data from a big company or agency. In spite of this and, for the sake of ease in a ever-faster-paced world, sometimes we just need to bite the bullet and trust more advanced security-conscious systems to poke out those prying eyes.

Tax Tip: Early next week brings the oft-dreaded April 15 so I’ll conclude this year’s tips with a bit of help for educators.

The public generally doesn’t realize that most teachers (and other educators) dig deep into their own pockets to spend anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars during a school year.

Unfortunately, while the government doesn’t provide enough of a deduction to compensate these guardians of tomorrow whose phenomenal generosity benefits their students, Uncle Sam allows a $250 deduction for the cost of items the individuals pay out of pocket. Plus, it doesn’t matter if the person itemizes or not.

Ellen Phillips is a retired English teacher who has written two consumer-oriented books. Her Consumer Watch column appears on Saturdays in the Business section of the paper. An expanded version is at www.timesfreepress.com under Local Business. E-mail her at consumerwatch@timesfreepress.com